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Sunday, July 19, 2009

Rome preparing to appoint new auxilliary in Linz?

The Pope has injured his wrist after a fall on Friday during his holiday in Italy.

After a brief treatment in the hospital, he is carrying on with his holiday after an unusually intense and difficult half year, said a press release from "Kathpress," the Catholic news agency.

But the Diocese of Linz currently has caught nothing of the holiday mood. The "dismissal" of Ferdinand Kaineder as head of the Communications Office of the Diocese of Linz, again ensures that the grass roots of the church are again agitated. Bishop Ludwig Schwarz is accused of bowing to the wishes of arch-conservative groups in the Diocese of Linz.

Not only Kaineder himself, but also the campaign group “We are Church” and Catholic Action Upper Austria see the dismissed press chief as a victim of ultra-conservative circles.

Kaineder was blamed, as he himself reported, for the diocesan Youth CD from 2006 which contained open statements about sexuality.

Also, that he is a representative of the "Linz Way" and that as spokesman of the Bishop, he did not entirely conform with the programme, outlook and statements of the Bishop gave rise to anger among the conservatives.

Bishop Ludwig Schwarz justified the dismissal so that Kaineder as a committed colleague always drew attention to himself for controversial positions.

This brought him in tension with his tasks as spokesperson of the Bishop. Schwarz has offered his ex-press chief however, other specific employment opportunities in the Diocese.

Immediately after his firing Kaineder said that from specific parties a defamation campaign had been run against him for a number of years

Defamation campaign

After Rundschau am Sonntag showed him an emailed linked from the campaign, Kaineder’s suspicions were confirmed.

From outside, the impression was always woken that there could be a connection between kath.net and the initiative, Kirchentreu

It was always known to me that they worked together. It appeared to me that the information channels between Rome and kath.net functioned well.

“I believe also that these channels are responsible for my sacking”, said Kaineder.

Explosive email

In the cited email of 4th February, Franz Gangl, head of the movement, Kirchentreu and producer for KTV invited his colleague Klaus Fruhstorfer to a meeting with Roland Noe, the chief editor of the internet platform, kath.net.

Gangl wrote about a press conference at which Bishop Schwarz and parish priest, Gerhard Maria Wagner were present.

He joked about Kaineder and told Fruhstorfer that his concern about the Nudist Doorkeeper (Cathcon??!!) (meaning Kaineder) was completely unfounded. At that time, the consecration of Gerhard Maria Wagner was still to be taking place.

Gangl wrote that he had whispered to Wagner at the end of the press conference that the church tax boycott could now end and that the money that had been paid into escrow accounts could be handed over to the new Bishop as a welcome gift.

That Rome has spoken influential words in the Diocese was made clear to Rundschau am Sonntag by a church insider.

"Supposedly the Kaineder documentation has been on the desk of the pope. Furthermore in Rome, the appointment of a new auxiliary bishop shall be prepared. "